Predator
by amberpire
Summary: I want to say yes, yes, Jade, you mess with my heart, you make it twist and turn and roll over itself, you make it tie itself into knots and ache and feel wonderful all at the same time. ;Tori/Jade;
1. Chapter 1

**Notes:** _This fic takes place the night of 'Freak the Freak Out'._

_What are you waiting for? On to the smut!  
_

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I discovered early on that Jade has no patience.

She can't even wait to get to my bed. Her fingers clench around my hips and shove me into the wall, the back of my head bouncing off it with a grunt of pain. She doesn't even pause, her mouth pushing hard against mine - I wouldn't call it kissing. It's far too vicious for that. It's just her attacking me with her lips, her tongue, and then her lips are trailing down my jawbone, following the lines of my neck. I can't breathe when she's with me like this; my brain simply forgets how, fogged up by her fingers slipping up the sides of my shirt, fingernails raking across my ribs. I gasp as I feel teeth pluck at the flesh over my jugular, my eyes fluttering closed.

I hate liking this, but there isn't much I can do about it. I can feel the dark-haired girl smiling against my skin. It embarrasses me how much she enjoys this, even moreso how much I do.

"Wh-" I don't know why I'm trying to talk, and neither does she - she pauses long enough for me to know that now is not the appropriate time for conversation and she'd much rather me shut up, but I can't stop once I've started. "Why ...?" I think I had more planned to the question than just that, but Jade's thigh is between my legs and it erupts flames in my gut that make my train of thought come to a halt. The question doesn't even make sense; there was never a reason, so there can't be a why, but I'm trying to have some sense of self here.

I feel her grin again, her thumbs pressing bruises into my hipbones, but somehow that dull pain is causing me much more pleasure than discomfort.

She pulls back and suddenly I wish I hadn't said anything because the lack of heat makes me shiver, my eyes blinking to try and bring her back into focus. Jade's eyes, though framed by such dark make-up, are a bright, startling green up close. She tilts her head at me, a cat-like smile toying with her lips as she studies my less than composed self. My cheeks flush, but I'm not entirely sure if it's out of embarrassment or the need I have for her to touch me again.

"I'm returning the favor," she says, her voice low and sultry, eyes heavy and hooded. "You sang and danced so pretty tonight, I thought you deserved a little," she pauses a breath before my lips, her own quirking into a soft smirk. "...treat," she finishes, her upper lip running over my lower and I swear my joints have turned to jelly because I can barely stand.

"J-Jade." She's up my shirt again, fingers teasing the edge of my bra. Her fingertips are cold, freezing, even, and somewhere there's a joke hiding behind them about Jade not having a soul or having cold blood or being a evil-spirited amphibian, like a snake, and maybe if I wasn't, you know, melting, I'd be able to say something more than her name, but I can't. My legs tremble as her lips abuse mine once more, a muffled sound swallowed behind her lips. I pull back, my hands reaching up to grasp her shoulders. "The b, bed -"

Jade laughs, her hands slipping down my chest to curl around my hips again, holding me up. She steps back far enough to turn me, my feet stumbling as she pushes me to the mattress. I land in a sitting position, but then she's crawling over me with the grace of a tiger and the same predatory look in her eyes. My chest shudders, struggling to remember its function, failing miserably as her hands slid up my shirt and bring it with them, the flesh of my stomach exposed to her cold hands. She takes to my neck once more, nipping and biting at old and new bruises, fresh and fading hickeys, all from her. She tries to find unmarred skin, but it's pretty difficult; she's had all of me a dozen times at least. There isn't much left of me that she hasn't marked as hers.

This, all of this, this whole Jade kick, it's ... hard to explain. I like to think it only started a month ago, maybe two, but it feels so much longer than that. It started that day Jade helped me clean up the auditorium, when she admitted to lying about me giving her a black eye. She gave me a ride home that night, but before I could get out of the car she had crawled into my lap and ripped my shirt off and kissed me so hard, my lower lip bruised the next morning. And I never thought of her like that, or any girl, for that matter, but I think a lot of supposed straight people really aren't as heterosexual as they think they are.

It only took Jade slamming her mouth to mine once to get me addicted to her touch. She never explained why or what she was gaining or why Beck was apparently not in the equation, but then again ... I never really asked. I don't want her to stop. I live for these few, sporadic moments when Jade turns into the predator. In fact, she's become such a drug to me, I don't remember how I lived without it, without _this_.

She tears me from my thoughts by the hook of my bra unclasping. Jade pulls me up, not even waiting long enough for me to take my shirt off on my own; she simply rips it over my head, my unhooked bra falling away from my body. Her hands clench hard on my breasts - there's nothing gentle about Jade's touch - and I moan loudly as I fall back against the sheets, her mouth on my collarbone, her tongue flicking against the skin. Even though she's cold, I'm on fire, and my room feels so humid and thick and much too hot, but everything about it is perfect; this is what Jade and I are when we're together like this. Hot and heavy and _too much_.

Jade kisses her way down my torso, fingers massaging my breasts. She trails her tongue between them, shifting her legs to slip a knee between mine. I try to grind against it, only for her to pull away. That's the thing with Jade - I can only do what she allows me to. She gives me very little slack. In fact, I've actually barely touched her at all. It's like a game and there are rules: she never lets me take the lead, never allows me to be on top of her like she is to me. I don't touch her unless she lets me, which is rare, and really only happens in the hottest moments. I roll my body like a snake, arching up and down for her, the pores of my skin begging for whatever she has planned for me. My fingers coil in the bedspread as a tongue rolls about my bellybutton, my hips trembling in their effort to stay still, but it's so hard, because Jade's watching my every expression and she must like what she sees, because that grin still hasn't left her face.

She pulls back, abandoning me, and crosses her arms, fingers curling around the hem of her shirt. I perk in excitement, resting on my elbows to push myself up, only to halt; if I get too greedy, she might remain clothed. She rarely takes off her clothes, too; mostly she's in and out of here as soon as I finish with barely any attention on her part, so the idea that she might let me touch her is a much too tempting idea. Jade chuckles at me, slowly raising her arms, pulling the navy blue, long-sleeved shirt with her. Her hair tumbles in messy waves over her shoulders as she tosses the garment to the floor, eyes never leaving mine. I feel like I'm hyperventilating, my eyes gazing hungrily at the lacy, black bra she's wearing.

I swear she's trying to kill me. She's doing this on purpose and my poor body can barely handle it. I squirm, whimpering softly as my eyes beg her to let me touch, to feel, to take off that bra with my itching fingers. I want to show her that I can do to her what she does to me, that there really isn't anything I want more than that. A studded brow arches at me, green eyes flicking to my hands. She reaches down, circling two fingers around each of my wrists and pulling them forward, holding them both in front of me. I have to sit up slightly to accommodate for the pulling of my arms, and then she's leaning down, hovering in front of my eyes. I'm trembling, I'm a hot mess, but as always, Jade is eerily collected and calm, almost as if she isn't effected at all. It's always been like that, since the very beginning; Jade is all poise and smirks while I have to bite back my pleasure and have to take a long nap as soon as we're finished.

"Do you want to touch me?" Jade tilts her head at me; even her voice is steady, a calm whisper, and her eyes are completely undisturbed. Her hair is tickling my bare chest, teasing one nipple, and I'm nodding vigorously, hands clenching in her hold.

"Yes." I try to sound firm and sure of myself, because while it's true, it kind of ... frightens me. Jade's intimidating with her clothes on, even moreso as soon as they're discarded. I don't want to disappoint her. I never had to worry about it before because Jade never gave me the opportunity, but now that it seems like she's presenting it, I'm shaken. What if I mess up? What if I don't do well at all? God, how embarrassing.

It's only then that something flickers across her eyes, something sharp, and her hands bring mine apart and push me backwards, my wrists pinned high above my head. She doesn't say anything else, simply crushes her lips against mine with bruising force to shut me up. It's a very effective tactic, because I'm melting, my legs parting eagerly to bring her closer. Jade rocks her hips against mine, a moan splitting past my lips at the sensation, my legs folding and crossing behind Jade's back to encourage her to press harder, faster, and she does; our clothed pelvises grind against each other. Her fingers clench around my wrists as she coasts down my neck, the dull pain only serving to heighten everything else, a sharp gasp of pain fluttering over my tongue as she bites hard on the skin above my collarbone. Her hands push mine hard against the mattress, an unspoken order to keep them there as she drags her nails down the sensitive skin of my arms. I squirm, chest heaving as those same hands ghost over my chest, curling around the waistband of my jeans. I shift my hips up as I pant in her ear.

Jade's finger trails along the inside of the waistband before she stops, lips pressed against my jugular. I don't know why she's paused, so I simply wait, my heart pounding in my ears, against her lips, hurling each beat against my struggling ribcage. Jade takes a deep breath before continuing - I take only a moment to wonder what kind of inner dialogue she's having, because then my pants are unbuttoned and the zipper is torn down and then she's in my pants, a hand rubbing hard against my panties.

I make a noise that probably would have embarrassed me had I been sober - Jade makes me drunk, impaired, and unstable, so I can't be blamed for the stuff she does to me. I can't control my hips any longer; they buck against her hand, my legs tightening behind her back. I need her. I need this. I'm all pent up and I'm simply going to die if she doesn't stop teasing me like this, if she doesn't stop taking her sweet time. Jade has no patience and mine is wearing thin.

"Please." The word falls off my tongue before I can stop it. Jade pulls back slightly, meeting my eyes. There's almost a ... frown to her lips that worry me, because I've never seen that look on her face before, like she feels ... bad? Guilty? I don't know. I blink up at her, my chest still heaving, my skin still flushed, and without a word and leans back, hooks her fingers in the beltloops of my jeans and begins pulling the garment away. I straighten my legs, sighing softly as the denim is finally free of me, landing in a heap on the floor. I catch Jade's face again, frowning somewhat at the sudden distance in her eyes; she's usually so solid, so control ... why is it so different all of the sudden? Why does she look so mad?

It was clear from the start that this was never lovemaking; I figured that's why she's so rough with me all the time, that's why she bites and bruises and kisses me so hard it can't be considered kissing. She's never been gentle with me, or caring, or loving, or anything; but the fingers massaging my thighs, staying clear of old bruises, are kind. She's being ... she's being soft with me, and that's a whole new sensation from Jade, and fire is licking up my insides and I'm simply going to burst.

These new hands rub against my panties again. I'm so wet I'm sure I've simply soaked them. I glance up at her to see if she's grinning, if she's back to her old self, only to find that, while she does look focused, she seems ... angry. I don't have much time to think about her much, however, because soon she's pushing my panties to the side and thumbing my clitoris and the white spots on my vision are too overwhelming for me to have thoughts. I moan loudly, shifting my hips again. She flicks her thumb across the sensitive nub so fast I can't stand it, my lungs expanding and deflating so quickly I'm sure they're just going to give up.

"J-Jade, please, _unh _-" I can't talk, can barely see at this point, and then Jade is crawling over me, her free hand resting beside my head to keep herself up. She's looking straight down at me, our eyes hooking together. Green orbs narrow down at me, as if accusing me of something, blaming me. I try to look curious, but with her finger stroking my clit like it is, I can't manage any expression except extreme pleasure.

A middle finger plunges so fast and hard into me I jerk forward, my hands raising to hold her shoulders as tight walls clamp around the invading finger. I shudder against the skin of her shoulder, not wanting to fall back, not wanting to see her angry eyes again. None of this is my fault; she initiated all of it. She kept coming back. She kept taking me, so whatever guilt she's feeling isn't my fault. It was never an issue before, and I don't know what changed, but she can't once say that this is my fault. I didn't even know I wanted her until she forced herself upon me.

Her finger is unforgiving, pushing hard and fast into me. I tremble, gasping against her shoulder, soft sounds of pleasure filling the room. She smells of lavender, the scent wrapping around my head as a second finger forces its way inside. I feel like screaming, but manage to bite back the volume. I don't have the strength to sit up anymore, falling heavily back on the mattress, the breath knocked out of me. My lungs struggle to function as blinding pleasure pulses through me, her fingers only moving faster and harder. She curls them, stroking me hard and I buck again, her name mumbled several times out of my lips. I can't help it; I want her, need her, and with each pant of her name she goes faster, and I can feel it building, my hands shaking as they grip her shoulders. She's watching me again, flipping her hair over one shoulder. My fingers brush over the strap of her bra and I contemplate trying to take it off, but I'm too distracted, and I don't want her to stop. If she stopped I would just die, and as I meet her eyes, it isn't the predator I see, it's something far more soft.

Something about that makes me come harder than I ever have before. Maybe it's just because I'm not used to seeing her eyes so gentle, or maybe it's because I wonder who else she looks at like that - has Beck even seen her eyes that open? The thoughts are blown from my mind as I squirm and cry out against her, my eyes squeezing shut as the waves never seem to cease. My hips buck and grind against her hand until it finally, finally draws to a close, and my body is vibrating, humming gently like the strings of an instrument. She plays me so well.

I crack open my eyes just for a moment, and before I can register where her eyes are, she's kissing me. And I mean really kissing me. Her lips are gentle and soft and I blink in surprise, my body tensing for only a moment before something kicks me into a different gear. I kiss her back, eyes fluttering closed. It's calm, the kiss, the hand beside my head touching my cheek with such surprising gentleness I start to tremble again. Jade has never touched me like this, has never really kissed me. This is brand new and fueling the fire in my gut once more, my heart like cymbals in my ears.

And then she's gone.

She rips away from me so quickly I half wonder if she simply teleported to the end of the bed. I sit up, blinking blearily down at her as she yanks her shirt over her head, taking a moment to straighten out her hair.

"Jade?" I shift, pulling the bedspread over my naked body. I watch as she stands, scoops her purse from the floor, and makes her way toward the door. I panic, shifting across the mattress with the blanket held to my chest. "Wait!"

I don't know why she stops, honestly. Maybe it's the desperation in my voice, I'm not sure. But she pauses at the door with her hand wrapped around the handle and glances at me, her lips pressed in a flat line. Her eyes are hard again, angry and mean, and they're blaming me once more, shooting accusations across the room. I realize then that I didn't really have a plan to say anything to her and simply sit there for a moment, struggling to come up with anything.

"Are you okay?" It's the first thought that scatters to the front of my mind. It's stupid because I know she's not. I can tell. She blinks at me, the anger faltering in her eyes as she looks down at the floor. She shifts, lower lip tugging between her teeth, and then she nods slowly.

"Yeah, Vega. I'm fine."

It's a lie and she knows it, and she knows that I know it. I frown over at her, glancing at my hands.

The door shuts with a soft click behind her.

This isn't unusual, her leaving right after, but it's never ... never like that. I've never seen her so full of emotion before; I didn't even know Jade could feel things like gentleness. I didn't know she was capable of kissing me like she did. I touch my lips, feeling my heart speed up as I remember the tenderness she used when she kissed me. It was so real, so ... raw. It makes my heart pound, my hands shake, and I stare at the door again, where she had been standing.

Jade has changed the rules. I don't know how to play this game anymore.

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**A/N:** _You would think I have no life by the amount of fanfiction I write, but I assure you, I'm very social. I have friends. A girlfriend, even. Just so it's clear that my life doesn't revolve around this website._

_...Maybe a little._

_Anyway, if you left me a review, it would make me very happy. So happy that I might update within the next few days. So happy that I would adopt thirty kittens. Give me your thoughts, your criticism. Where do you think this should go? I'd love whatever ideas you have, my friends._

_Adios!_


	2. Chapter 2

I like to think that I hate academics as much as the next person, but today in particular, I can't pay attention. I can't even pretend to pay attention. You'd think that practicing to be an actress would make me (and the rest of us) really good at acting like we care about stuff that happened two hundred years ago. But today I'm slumped in my desk, my head held up by one hand, the other pressing against my bruised collarbone. I wince as I rub it through the fabric of my shirt, frowning, eyes falling to my desk.

I've tried so hard to push what happened last night in the farthest reaches of my mind. Usually I did a pretty good job of keeping my two lives separate; there was me everyone else, and then there was me in the bed with the predator. It was simple then. I was happy and hanging out with friends like a normal high schooler, I would do homework and dance around my room, I would go shopping with my mom and take care of my witch-sister when she got her wisdom teeth removed. And then there was me when I was Jade, a trembling mass of flesh and whimpers and pleasure and she seemed to enjoy it as much as I did, so I thought we were both getting what we wanted.

The rules were set. I knew what I could and couldn't do. She was in charge. She would lead and I would follow. It was hot and blinding and over much too quickly, but that's the way it was supposed to be.

But last night ... last night was different. She kissed me, and I mean really kissed me. My eyes close, the history lecture floating far away and I can almost feel her kissing me like she did the night before, my legs wrapped around her waist, her hand on my cheek. My heart starts fluttering, and not that it didn't before when I thought of Jade like this, but this is different. I saw a soft, careful, almost kind side of her and the look in her eyes wasn't the sick glee I was so used to seeing. It was new. It was like she was really looking at me.

My fingers curl over the neck of my shirt and brush along the bruised skin of my collarbone where she bit me. It turned a sick purple this morning and before I left for school I stared at it for a time before covering it up. I didn't want to look at it, because that was the mark of a rough Jade I had always known, and the tingling on my lips was from the soft one I've just met, and I couldn't decide which I was more comfortable with. My neck is still littered in old hickeys, which I have to promptly cover up with cosmetics every morning. That didn't usually bother me; it was a tiny sacrifice for what I got in return, but this morning it almost felt ... wrong, hiding them.

I haven't seen Jade yet today. I have Sikowitz with her next hour, but usually I see her hanging around Beck at his locker in the morning and today, she was absent. I wonder if she chose to skip all together and the thought makes me feel kind of queasy, because I know it's because of me. Us. Whatever. Something changed last night; she took off her shirt, for one. She asked if I wanted to touch her. She came really close to giving me the opportunity, and then she ... she kissed me the way she did, and that made everything so much more.

I never thought of Jade as anything more than a good time and I wonder if that's how she's always looked at me too, and gears of the cosmos decided to change both of our minds, because suddenly I just want to see her out of hope that it will calm my pounding heart. I want to look her in the eyes and study her lips and have her kiss me again. I want to ... I want to do all of those mushy things I've wanted to do with boys in the past, but nowadays, I hardly notice boys anymore.

"Ms. Vega? Might you join us here in the world of the living?"

I jerk awake, my eyes flying open to see that everyone is staring curiously in my direction. I slip my hand from the collar of my shirt, awkwardly touching my hair and straightening my back. "Yeah, yeah, sorry." A blush of embarrassment crawls to my cheeks as the teacher nods and turns back to the board, my eyes struggling to stay open, focusing on my desk. This didn't use to mess me up so badly. It wasn't complicated. But now the softness of Jade's eyes can't be unseen and now everything that meant so little before is blowing up and ... and ...

I don't know. I'm so confused. And it's not like I can just walk up to Cat or Andre and be like, "Hey, Jade and I are having sex but now I feel like it's more than that, what should I do?" Because they would probably look at me like I was a lunatic. I know that what Jade and I are doing is ... odd, abnormal, whatever, but it never felt like that to me. It was just fun, and nice, and felt really good. I couldn't explain in words that these guys would understand. No one can help me - no one but Jade, and we've never really discussed what we're doing. We just do it. There were never many words involved. I huff, exasperated, picking at the sleeves of my sweater. I still can't get over those few, accusing glares she sent my way, like ... like this was my fault, like I _asked _her to have sex with me or something. The thought had never crossed my mind! I'm the prey here, that's it. The innocent bunny. She's the wolf.

The bell erupts. Kids scramble past me and I slowly follow suit, scooping my books in my arms. I can feel the teacher's eyes on me, but before he can get a chance to say my name and call me over, I'm ducking out of the room in a sea of other students, blending in with a hundred different bodies. I glance through the kids, peering over shoulders and tall hairdos to try and pick out the one brunette I want to see, confused at the sudden pounding of my heart. What's wrong with me? It's like the veins of my heart have decided to rearrange themselves, tightening and loosening at random, all in accordance to Jade. I chew my lip as I dodge through the crowd, making my way to my locker with a frown. I glance toward Beck to see him standing there alone, headphones in his ears, bobbing to the music.

I frown at him as I turn my combination. Beck and I are friends, sure. We've never been all too close, and we don't hang out often, but he's a nice guy; at least, from what I've seen of him. He's funny and cute and puts up with Jade's snarky attitude, so he has to be a great boyfriend. Right? I would have killed for a guy that looked and acted like Beck a few months ago.

Now, I just want his girlfriend.

I gasp at the initial thought, twisting my eyes back to my locker. No, no, I don't want Jade. Not romantically. I just like having sex with her.

...I'm not sure if that's better or worse. I groan to myself, shoving my books in my locker and readjusting my purse. I shut the metal door, turning to make my way toward Sikowtiz's room, only to freeze with one foot raised. There she is. She's leaning on her elbow by Beck. His back is blocking most of her, but I can see a shock of blue hair extensions over the peak of his shoulder, and I can make out the glint of her eyebrow piercing as she talks. I don't move, just watch her, watch them, and this odd, nagging sense starts tugging at my heart again. I scowl at myself, lowering my foot, stepping slowly to the side to better my angle. I can see her face now, eyes focused on Beck, her eyebrows down. They look like they're bickering but that's really nothing knew; they're always fighting. I swallow, focusing on Jade; the brightness of her green eyes, framed by smokey black shadows, I study the slope of her lips I've seen and had a dozen times on every part of my body, biting and nipping and sucking but suddenly they look different because now I know how they feel when she really means it.

I don't know what drags her eyes to mine, but she jerks her gaze over Beck's shoulder and sees me. Her back straightens. I blink curiously at her, contemplating what to do - wave? Ignore her? We don't interact much outside of my bedroom, and when we do it's in a group and we just act casual, as if there's nothing more between us than a very tense friendship. Jade's eyes flick slowly between Beck and I, who has apparently not noticed that his girlfriend isn't really paying attention to whatever he's saying. Beck's a lot more oblivious than I thought, actually.

And then she reaches up and touches Beck's cheek. Her eyes flick toward me once more before closing, and then she's kissing him.

I've seen Jade kiss Beck a hundred times, before and after we started ... whatever you want to call it. Our activities, or whatever. And it never bothered me before; Beck is her boyfriend. They're together. They're romantic. Beck has feelings for her and I liked to think that Jade had feelings for him. I always understood that and I easily overlooked them when they were being affectionate, assured that I would simply have my time with Jade when she decided to act upon it. There weren't strings attached. The rules were still in play.

But now I have strings, and the rules are blurred, and I just stand there in an odd kind of shock, like ... like Jade's cheating on me or something. Which is stupid because she's not - we're not together. I'm not her girlfriend. I never was her girlfriend. What we were - are - doing, it's just sex. That's it. There aren't feelings involved. Right? The rules ... the rules made sure of that.

And while I know all of this, and the rational side of my brain is fully functioning, my heart doesn't understand. It refuses to. It just sees this girl who kissed me with uncharacteristic tenderness, this girl who has an entirely different side to her, and she's sharing that same soft kiss she gave to me with someone else. I touch my sore collarbone over my shirt before I spin on my heel and whirl down the hallway, blinking my eyes hard to keep tears at bay. This is so stupid! Jade never belonged to me - if anything, I was _hers_, and I'm not supposed to feel so ... betrayed.

I swing into the nearest bathroom, ignoring the curious stares of the freshman as I fall into the closest stall. I drop my purse to the floor and perch on the toilet, my feet bouncing off the floor. The bell screams through the speakers in the ceiling and the girls scatter, leaving me alone, the only sound the ticking of a clock somewhere out in the hallway. I rub at my cheeks, breathing in and out and trying to steady myself, to reason with my heart. Jade was hardly ever my friend, let alone any kind of romantic interest; she's just a good lay. She was just fun to me.

I grit my teeth. This is her fault. If she hadn't kissed me like that, if she hadn't broken the rules, then none of this wouldn't have happened. Everything would still be relatively normal. Hell, she started all of this. She came onto me, she brought me into this, she lured me to the dark side. I'm innocent, right? I didn't do this?

My heart isn't listening. It never does. It pounds painfully against my ribs as I picture Jade kissing Beck over and over with the same gentleness she showed me. It isn't fair. Is _anyone_ special to her? Is everyone disposable? Does anything matter? I close my eyes and jog my foot against the floor and try to rationalize with myself; no, I don't matter to Jade. I was just a good time. That's all she was to me last night, before she messed everything up. There was nothing else. Just sex.

Before her, I had done little in the ways of physical interaction. Sure, I've made out with my share of boys, and one time a guy got halfway up my shirt, but, I mean, I have self respect, you know? I wanted to be totally head over heels in love with someone before I got even close to taking off my clothes. Those were my rules. I obviously didn't uphold them very well, but ... it wasn't my fault! Jade all but flung herself at me, and the girl ... she knows how to touch. She knows a body, knows the strings to pluck to make me sing. And I gave into her because ... because I did. Because it felt right at the time, I guess. I'd never been touched like that before, and she made it perfect. I didn't even care about the love rule. I just wanted Jade's rules.

I just wanted Jade.

When I first got to Hollywood Arts, she hated me. She hated me so much, she practically created steam every time she saw me. I was lucky that we got to the point that we could be in the same room with her without her trying to set me on fire. I just figured it was because she was, well, programmed to be mean or something. Some people don't need a reason to be angry all the time. And then I thought that _she _thought I was interested in Beck. I did kiss him that one time, but we were just acting, it didn't mean anything. Besides, Beck's nice, and cute, but ... he's Jade's, and I'm not like that.

The bathroom door opens. I squeak, pulling my legs up from the floor and balancing them on the edge of the toilet. I hear boots click on the floor, watching them through the gap in the door. They stop and cross and then there's silence for a time. I panic, thinking it's a teacher, not knowing what else to do but hold my breath and pray they'll leave.

"Tori, I can see your purse."

The voice makes me both melt with relief and cringe at the same time, jerking my eyes to my purse laying on the floor. I mentally curse as I scoop it off the floor, shouldering it as I stand and slowly slide the lock on the bathroom door. I open it up to see Jade, decked in all black this morning, leaning her back on the sink. Her arms are crossed, eyebrows up, her skin a ghostly white under the fluorescent lights.

I bite my lip, shrugging my purse and shifting my feet awkwardly. She doesn't say anything and the silence is obviously bothering me more than it is her. I toy with my hair to give my hands something to do. "Do you need to use-"

"Sikowitz sent me to find you." She tilts her head at me, lips somewhat pursed. I study them for a moment, licking my own before tearing my gaze away. Now isn't the time.

"Oh," I say flatly, staring at everywhere but her. "Well, I'm fine. Thanks for ...uhm, checking."

She doesn't move. I don't know what I really expected her to do - we're rarely alone at school. We're rarely alone period, and when we are, I'm usually naked. I blush furiously, rubbing at my neck before deciding I should just leave. What else is there to say? I'm still trying to get past the image of Jade kissing Beck so tenderly in the hall, which bothers me so much and I don't even understand why. I start to move past her, my head ducking, only for fingers to curl around my elbow and jerk me back. I stare at her in surprise, her mouth set in a firm, flat line.

"What?" I raise my eyebrows at her, trying to look completely perplexed, but I sound kind of breathless. She's touching me, and ... and it's like I've been trained to react a certain way when she does. My heart is slamming against my sternum, lungs are working at full capacity, my brain is spinning and it's not even skin on skin contact, for Christ's sake.

"Last night," Jade says slowly, studying my eyes. I wonder if I'm as easy to read as I think I am. God, I hope not. "What went wrong?"

It's an odd question - we've never talked about us before. We've never talked about what we do. We just do it. I don't know how to answer her, my tongue struggling to come up with whatever it is she wants to hear, flapping around my mouth until I shut it with a loud click. I look at the floor, shrugging. "I don't know," I finally reply, shaking my head slowly. Strands of brown hair fall from my shoulders, shielding my face from her and I'm lucky she can't see my eyes because I'm sure they're just radiating hurt.

"Look at me."

I glance up, just as her arm extends and pale fingers curl around my hair, pulling it back. Our eyes meet, her startling green locking with my brown and I'm paralyzed for a moment, frozen in place by her stare. I never really realized how pretty they were when she wasn't using them to glare daggers at someone she didn't like.

"We can stop." Her eyes dart between mine, her hand lowering from my face, the other still holding my elbow. "If you want."

"No." I say it too fast, shaking my head too quickly. I know there's too much desperation in my voice, but ... but I don't want her to stop. I don't want her to not touch me the way she does because I don't think I'll ever find what she can give me from anyone else. I don't want it from anyone else. I bite my lip, struggling to hold her eyes. I feel like an idiot, like a total moron, but I don't want her to leave me. "No, I don't want to ... stop." I stare at her silently, feeling my heart stop to droop. "Unless, you want to."

Jade's silence isn't very reassuring, her face marble stone, showing no emotion at all. Her hand slips down my elbow to circle around my wrist. She pauses there, a twitch of a frown coming to her lips, only for her hand to lower again, fingers entwining with mine. I blink, shocked - Jade West is _holding my hand_. I try to say something, anything, but then she's tugging me to the handicapped stall of the bathroom, pushing me gently inside the door. She closes it and locks it with her free hand before turning to me, the hand not tangled with mine raising to brush featherlight fingertips against my cheek.

My heart seizes.

She urges me backward, my back meeting the tile wall softly. I can already feel my knees growing weak as she rests against them, eyes scattering over my face. My purse falls forgotton on the floor. Her hand falls from my cheek, following my neck and slipping under the collar of my shirt. She pulls it down slightly and I feel ice slide over the bruise from her teeth, a hitch of breath catching in my throat. She stops for a moment, eyes snapping back to mine.

I can't read her at all. I can't tell if the look in her eyes is guilt because she bruised me or because she feels bad about Beck or because she feels bad about me, I don't know. Her eyes are bottomless and there's a thousand questions in them and I have no answers.

"Tori ..." She bites her lip, glances at the floor, then back to me again. I wait for a moment, not knowing what she's trying to say. She doesn't usually talk to me at all; our interactions involve very few words. But now she's looking at me like she's trying to figure something out, like an answer lies in my eyes except I'm just as confused as she is.

I don't think. I just do. I lean forward and capture her lips with mine. I just want to kiss her and have her kiss me like she did in my bedroom last night, and to my surprise, she doesn't hesitate. She doesn't pull away. She kisses me back with the same shocking tenderness that blew my mind last night, and there go my thoughts, right out of my ear. Her hands rest on my hips, but not the hard clutch she usually uses, she just ... she just lets them sit there, holding me gently to her own. My hands raise carefully, just skimming over her chest as I circle my arms around her neck, holding her closer, increasing the pressure behind the kiss. Instead of forcing its way inside, her tongue seeks permission, swiping over the opening of my lips and I part them eagerly and shudder. Her hands puddle in my lower back, pressing me forward. My hands curl around the back of her neck, thumbs next to her ears, fingers sliding into her waves of hair.

And we're in a smelly bathroom stall in the middle of a school day, but there isn't anything more perfect than this that I can think of. She can kiss Beck a hundred times and I doubt he's ever felt this.

She breaks it first, which is probably a good thing, because I suck in some much needed air and had she not stopped me, I might have simply passed out. Jade's hands hold me up, my eyes glazed, and when I look at her, she looks dizzy, too. Her eyes blink down at me, a quirk trembling the corner of her mouth.

"You going to make it, Vega?"

I laugh breathlessly, my hands still on her neck, holding her close. I don't want her to go. I don't want to leave this smelly bathroom stall. I don't want to return to the world of rules, the boyfriend, the confusion. I just want her here with me and I want to explore all those questions in her eyes so I - we - don't have to be torn up anymore. "Maybe. Just ... stay here for a little bit, okay?"

She smirks. "Sure."

I stroke her hair. Her hand slips under the back of my shirt and rubs the small of my back, the cold tips of her fingers sending heat up my spine. We stay there for the rest of the hour, her arms never once leaving my waist and my hands tracing the back of her neck and her hair and we talk, we talk of all kinds of things; of school, of home, of our friends, of our future, and it's like we're not in the middle of a bathroom stall. We kiss. We kiss a lot.

We don't ask any questions, but I get a lot of answers. Not the ones I was looking for, but it's ... it's like Jade was just an outline before, and now she's gaining details.

She was a sketch and now she's a painting.

And when the bell rings, we leave the bathroom and go separate ways, but I can still feel her against my lips, on my waist, against my lower back, in my chest.

* * *

**A/N:** _...Yes. I'm updating the day after I posted the first chapter._

_I have a life, I swear!_

_Anyway, reviews. Those would be lovely, if you could spare the time. Tell me you loved it, or hated it, tell me if you wanted to kiss it or throw it out the window. _


	3. Chapter 3

Jade really shouldn't be this good at kissing.

We haven't even made it out of the school parking lot. She pushed me into the backseat, checked the thinning parking lot, and climbed over me, mumbling something about being grateful for black-tinted windows as she dived for my lips. She's turned me into a shuddering mess, her hands resting on my hips as my legs circle around her, bringing her closer. Her car smells new, like fresh leather and bubblegum and Jade tastes like the Tootsie Pop I saw her sucking on at lunch. I wonder if I still taste like the pizza I ate. God, I hope not.

The kisses are hard and hungry, but they still hold that element of tenderness she showed me the day before in the bathroom, and that evening in my room. It's almost as if, at first, she needed to prove to me that she was in control, that she was only doing this for fun and she could bruise me with her mouth if she felt like it, and then she succumbed to something softer, more gentle in her, and now she's found some decent medium, somewhere between caressing and biting. Her teeth graze across my lower lip and I part them with a silent gasp, a tongue tasting thick of cherry swiping the inside of my mouth. Cold fingertips brush along my trembling ribs, taking the breath right out of me.

I'm half leaning on the car door and laying flat on the seat as she pushes my purple shirt up and up, and soon I'm sitting up to rip the stupid thing off. Jade releases this breathless chuckle, leaning down to run her damp lips over the top of my breasts, teeth running along the length of the cup of my bra. I hitch, the heat pooling between my lips only serving to scatter my thoughts further, pushing them far into the corners of my mind. I try to at least string together a sentence, but the attempt is proved futile when Jade's nimble fingers pluck my bra and pull it away and then her lips are hooked around one of my nipples and I'm more of a shuddering mass of flesh than a person, really.

It's Jade, and the things she does to me.

Things have almost returned to 'normal', if that's what you can call it. Since yesterday in the bathroom, little has changed - except every time I see Jade kiss Beck in the hall, I have to keep myself from running away again. Since Jade changed the rules, I don't know where my heart lies anymore, and part of me wants to be mad at her for doing that to me, for making my heart ache whenever I see her, but the other half is just grateful she didn't decide to stop. I mean, I wonder why she doesn't - I wonder why Beck is obviously not enough for her. I wonder if she's every done this with other girls, or other guys, and ...

As the thought enters my mind, my body spasms so much that Jade pulls back, alarmed. Her eyebrows are flying up on the plane of her forehead, dark hair swinging in front of her, and she's panting almost as hard as I am.

"You okay?"

Her hands are still on my hips and my legs are still wrapped around her waist. I loosen them, letting them fall, bent, on the seat on either side of her, pushing myself up slightly. I frown, awkwardly shifting one arm over my breasts as I run a hand through my hair and stare at my lap, chewing my lip. "Yeah, uhm, I was just ... wondering ..."

Jade pulls away from me, leaning against the door on the opposite side. The car is warm and my skin is sticking the leather seat behind me. I shift, pulling my knees to my chest as I shift, flicking my gaze at her. Her hands are on her knees, eyes speculating as they dart over me, trying to figure me out. I pull my hair back again, fingers threading through the long strands until it tumbles down my back.

"I was just wondering if you ... if, uh, if you do ... this ..." I wave slightly between us while still trying to keep my chest covered, like Jade's never seen them before. "With, uhm, other people."

Jade blinks slowly before her eyebrows meet over her nose. Her nose wrinkles as she leans back, folding her knees in front of her. She's wearing these jeans that are so tattered and ripped up its a wonder they're even holding themselves together, and through the gaps of the fabric I can see patches of her thighs. The skin is pale and foreign to me; I've never really gotten that far with her. I was hoping that, now that the rules had changed, she'd be willing to let me, you know, touch her ... because as good as receiving is, I want to know what Jade's face looks like when, when ... you know.

"Do you think I'm a slut?" Her head tilts, peering curiously across the seat at me.

I shake my head quickly, raising my hands. "No, no, I just ... I mean, if you're doing this to Beck with me, why shouldn't I think you're doing stuff with other people?"

When I meet her eyes again, I'm taken away by the sudden anger in them. I freeze, mentally cursing myself for mentioning Beck; that was in the rules. But Jade had broken them, so didn't that mean I could, too? Or, because she was the 'leader', the predator, only she could do those kinds of things? I duck away from her gaze, leaning slightly to pluck my bra from the floor. I blink when cold fingers wrap around my wrist, my eyes traveling up the pale slope of her arm to meet her eyes. I'm suddenly aware of how close she is to me, how hot it is in the car, how quiet it is between us, and how _there _she is, and how _here _I am.

"No," she says, her eyes falling to my hand. I drop my bra. "I'm not doing this with anyone else. Just you."

She leans up to kiss me; I can tell by the falling of her eyelids and the way her body curves over mine but I pull back, my head meeting the window. Jade stops, gauging me again, her fingers still noosed around my wrist.

"Why me?" I study her cautiously and she huffs, her brows flickering in what appears to be annoyance.

"Is now really the time?"

And this is the Jade everyone else sees, the snappy, quick-tempered one. I wonder if Beck has even seen her as kind as I did when we were in the bathroom stall.

"Yes." I pull my hand from her grasp and meet her eyes again, the hard green slicing through the space between us. "Now is the time, because I don't -" I falter, losing my streak of bravery because her eyes are so strong that I can't handle it. They fall to my lap again. "I don't know what this is anymore."

Jade huffs again. "Does it have to _be _anything?"

I jerk my eyes up at her, ignoring my naked chest as I sit up. "Well, yeah, it does! You don't just - people don't just do this for no reason, Jade."

This the first time we've ever really talked about this, about us, about ... anything of any real importance. It kind of freaks me out and I can tell it's messing with her, too, because she's not meeting my eyes anymore and she's fidgeting on the seat and chewing her lip and acting nervous. I'm seeing all these new layers to her, things I've never seen before. I didn't know she could be anything other than rough and mean, but here she is, showing the raw sides of her; nervousness, guilt, unease. She confuses me like when the sky looks like it's going to storm but you're not sure if it will, so you stay inside and hover by the window, occasionally peeking out to see if nature has decided to give the earth a break or rain destruction. Jade holds that kind of power, even if she doesn't realize it now.

"Why, Jade? Why are you - me - we, doing this? You have Beck. I have -" I frown. "- well, no one, but you have a boyfriend -"

"Shut up, Tori. Please."

I blink in surprise. Jade's eyes are squeezed closed, her hands curled into fists on top of her thighs. I hesitate and for the first time in my life I wish I could read her mind, just so I would know what kind of carnage is whipping around inside of her skull. "Hey," I say, softly, not sure why I suddenly feel so possessed to comfort her, and lean across the seat. I rest on my knees, reaching my hand up to curl her hair behind her ear. She opens her eyes and meets my own, the green wavering slightly and I fear she might cry and I don't know if I can handle that. This pull starts in my chest, draws me to her, and I'm kissing her, soft and gentle and calm on the lips. At first there isn't a reaction, just her frozen beneath me, and then her arms are wrapping around my neck and pulling me closer. I'm on top of her, and the fact that this is a really new experience for me should shock me or something, but it doesn't.

She parts her lips and I take advantage of it, tasting that sweet cherry again as my tongue swims inside of her mouth. My hands rest on her hips, fingers brushing over patches of skin and I feel her shudder beneath me and I tremble in reply, fingers teasing the hem of her shirt. She pushes off the door of the car, her arms unwinding only to take her shirt and rip it off of her. My eyes are heavy, but they take the time to dance around her exposed torso. I don't think, I just lean down and kiss between her breasts and she gasps, fingers in my hair. Before I tell them too, my hands are behind her back, plucking the hooks off of her bra, and I lean back far enough to get the garment off of her and we've been like this a dozen times and I've never seen her without her bra on before. Her breasts are soft and in a dazed sort of awe I caress them, glancing up to meet Jade's eyes. Her cheeks are flushed, her lip between her teeth, but she's not stopping me, she's not taking control - she's letting me do this to her and my heart slams against my ribs.

I swirl my tongue around a hardening nipple and her torso shudders, arching toward me. She gives this loud, hitched gasp as I hook my lips around it and I moan, my hands curving down the sides of her and up again. She's warm beneath me, hot and willing, and the fact that we're in the backseat of her car in the middle of an empty school parking lot does little to faze me. I move to the next breast, teasing this one with my teeth and she moans louder than I've ever heard before. The button of her jeans is plucked by my aching fingers, her hips wiggling in assistance as I pull the tattered jeans away from her and for once I'm still partly clothed and she's the practically naked one. She's wearing blue panties with darker blue stripes and I twitch a smile as my finger runs under the elastic. She rolls toward me, her hands on my shoulders, this soft whimpering noise coming from her throat and I glance up, watching her.

Jade West is _whimpering_. For _me_.

I swallow hard, leaning forward to kiss the flushed skin of her neck. She gasps, arms holding me closer, tighter, my fingers curling around the elastic of her panties and begging them to come off. She lifts her hips, allowing the garment to slip down the pale, untouched flesh of her thighs and I fling them into the front seat, slipping between her parted legs. I kiss her pulsepoint before pulling the skin between my teeth, gnawing lightly as my hand trembles down her stomach, pausing at her navel. I take a deep breath, flushing slightly as my fingers brush over a small patch of hair. I swallow, crawling further, heat swirling around my hand and up my wrist as I feel a spot of wetness meet the tips of my fingers and she gasps, squirms, mumbles, "_Tori _..."

That's enough confidence to get me going. I tease her lips with my fingers before parting them, circling her clitoris. Her body jerks, nails pinching the skin of my shoulders. I moan, traveling up her neck to pant into her ear. Her lips are on my cheek and my fingers are finally rubbing her clitoris and she's crying out, clutching to me like I'm the only thing holding her together and then I'm inside of her, pushing one finger in and out. Her breaths are choppy and hard, fluttering past my hair, and then she says, "Harder, Tori," and I obey, pumping my finger in and out of her as my thumb caresses her clitoris, and then it's "Faster, Tori, _unh_-" and again I do as she says, feeling her body shudder and tremble and cry out for me. I pant heavily as the sounds ripping from her throat get higher and higher and more strained and as I curl my fingers and stroke her tight walls she releases a high pitched scream, my name mixed in with her cries as I feel her crash against me, her hips grinding hard against my hand.

And then she's panting, spent, her head falling back against the car door. I lean back, staring in disbelief at my hand, still slick with her - did I just ... do that? Did I just make all of those noises come out of _Jade _freakin' _West_? I clench my hand, turning my eyes to her. Her cheeks are a bright red, her eyes still closed, and her chest is rising and falling so hard I almost worry she'll hyperventilate, and that'll just be great trying to explain to a doctor. I lean back, shifting my legs and blushing at the surprising amount of wetness growing between them as my back meets the opposite door. My mind is scattered, lost ... I don't ... I can't believe I just did that. I can't believe she _let _me do that. It's like ... it's like I won a gold medal in the Olympics.

It feels like an hour before she finally opens her eyes again, tilting her head down to meet mine. Her arms, which are delightfully trembling, might I add, struggle to put her into a more comfortable sitting position. She's still panting, though I'm happy to see it's an almost normal rate, and then she moves forward. I part my legs to accommodate her and she slips between them with ease, finding my lips with hers. The kiss is that same blinding, mesmerizing calm that brings forth shudders like earthquakes across my arms and legs, a soft moan vibrating our lips and chests. Her hands are urging my hips up and I do so, hearing the quick zipper of my jeans before they're being tugged down my legs. My panties go with them, the pink, soaked cotton tossed to the floor in a heap with our other clothes and my body is electric, hyperaware - the is the first time we've both been completely naked, and I can feel every pore of her body as it meets mine, melting against my stomach and legs and thighs. She kisses me senseless, until my head is so dizzy I see stars when she pulls away. I gasp, my hands clenching in the leather when her face disappears, only to jerk as her teeth scrape across my bellybutton.

I moan so loud I clamp a hand over my mouth, biting my palm for good measure. That brings her back to my eyes, her hand gently taking mine and tearing it away. There's a silent order in her eyes that assures me that she likes hearing what she causes, and then she's gone again, kissing the tender flesh of my thighs and I swear I'm going to explode. Her hands hook around my hips and pull me down until I'm laying flat on my back across the seat. She's half on the floor of the car, eyes flicking to mine. I try to speak though I'm not sure why, but every thought I've ever had is wiped clear from my mind as a tongue rolls against my clitoris.

I cry out, letting the sound fill the car as she does it again and again, waves of heat licking up my spine like fire. A thin sheet of sweat builds on my skin as lips hook around it, the soft sounds of her sucking and licking making my body do all kinds of strange twists and squirms. Rational thought - any kind of thought period has escaped me entirely, white clinging to the edges of my vision as fingers are added to the equation, slipping with too much ease inside of me. A second is quickly adding to the first, and her tongue is still hard at work, and I'm sticking to the leather but I don't even care; I don't care about anything but Jade between my legs and the pleasure consuming me. I try to warn her, try to say something other than cries for God and her name, but this is what she does to me, and then my body tenses and crashes and I chant "Jade!" like it's a prayer.

It takes a long time for me to come down, to see properly, to remember where I am. Reality swims back reluctantly and I sit up, my body a trembling mass of limbs and bones and flesh but my thought process is still sketchy. I blink, holding the handle of the car door and trying to even out my breathing, and then I search blearily for Jade.

She's sitting next to me, pulling her bra over her head. I watch her, my mouth too numb to form words. She pulls her panties up her legs and then her pants and I figure I probably should, too. I reach down slowly, searching for my bra, hooking it around me with a frown. The air is suddenly tense and too heavy for comfort. It smells like sex in here.

My shirt is the last thing to go on and when I look at Jade, she's clutching hers in her hands and staring at the floor of the car. I frown, pulling my hair from my collar and letting it drop on my back before I slowly slide across the seat. I place a careful hand on her back. "Jade?"

She doesn't move for a long time, eyes hooked on the floor. I bite my lip, rubbing her back slowly, not knowing what to think. My body is still shivering with the echoes of my pleasure, and I can still see her thighs shifting in what I hope isn't guilt or discomfort. She leans back then and I pull away, watching her pull her shirt over her head. She sighs hard, the sound crashing through the small area of the car.

Jade looks at me, eyes resting on mine, her hands clasping under her chin. I don't know what to do, so I don't do anything, just sit there and watch her watch me. I wonder if she wishes she had never changed the rules, because I don't, not anymore, not after seeing Jade like that. I rub nervously at my neck, searching for something to say, but she beats me to it.

"I love Beck." Her body stiffens and her eyes close. She turns away. "I do."

I stare at her, trying to ignore the beat of my heart and dull thud of pain accompanying it. "You sound like you're trying to convince yourself more than me."

She shoots a sharp glance at me. "No, I'm just making sure you understand what this is. We're fucking, and that's all."

My throat tightens but I refuse to cry in front of her, so I get angry instead. "That's such crap, Jade. If you loved Beck, you wouldn't be here with me in the first place."

Jade whirls toward me, leering over me like the predator she thinks she is, but all I see is the gentle looks in her eyes when she kissed me not ten minutes ago. She's trying to scare me but it just doesn't work anymore - she changed the rules, and I know the layers she has underneath the tough exterior and nothing is going to make me forget that.

"Vega, I'm serious. I love Beck. He's my boyfriend. This is just for fun."

"You don't even kiss Beck the way you kiss me." The resistance to crying isn't holding up so well - I can feel my eyes stinging. "You don't look at him the way you look at me, you don't touch him the way you touch me, and not once have I ever seen you show him the sides of you that I've seen."

"You're not around me twenty-four fucking seven, Tori! Beck and I do plenty of things in private, for your information -"

"Oh, yeah?" I'm practically yelling, sitting so fast she leans back. "Then why are you spending all of your free time with me? Why did you kiss me that night after we cleaned the auditorium? Why are we still doing this? Why have you gone from fast, meaningless fucks to you kissing me like you mean it?"

Jade's face flushes red and for a brief moment I think she's going to punch me or something, but she simply rips away from me and crawls into the front seat. I'm left panting and glaring at the window as the car jumps into drive, the engine roaring as we hurdle out of the parking lot. I angrily put my seatbelt on, crossing my arms as I glare out the window. We don't say a word and I know she's speeding but I don't care enough to scold her for it. I don't know how she can possibly claim to love Beck, not when she's with me like this. It's just impossible ... she can't be kissing me the way she does and then fold into the arms of another person. She just can't, and I know she isn't.

She whips into my driveway. I fling my seatbelt away and climb out before the car even comes to a complete stop, but before I can get very far I hear her voice calling out for me.

"Tori!"

I consider ignoring her. I consider walking straight into my house and shutting the door in her face. But I stop because my body's been programmed for awhile now to do as she says so I stop, huffing as I spin on my heel. She's leaning out of the window, propped on her elbow, her other hand beckoning me forward. I glare, marching toward her and ducking back into her car through her window. "What -"

I don't even have enough time to finish my words when her fingers curl around my chin and yanks my mouth to hers. The fight melts out of me as the soft kiss continues, and when I finally pull away her eyes are troubled and hooded, flicking between mine.

"I don't know what this is anymore, either," she mumbles, her mouth still close to mine. I hesitate, meeting her eyes before I pull slowly out of the window.

"Well, we should probably figure that out." I run my fingers over my lips. She nods slowly, giving me one last look before she throws her car into reverse and pulls out of my driveway.

I stay outside until I can't see her car anymore.

* * *

**A/N: **_Car sex. I'd like to try it. _

_Sorry for the semi-late update; I have school, you know. But hey, it's almost Christmas, and I would just love some festive reviews. Consider them candy canes of love. Don't you want me to have candy canes of love?_


	4. Chapter 4

It's actually kind of pathetic – here I am, on a Saturday afternoon, doing my homework. And diligently, too, like I actually want to get a good grade or something. I haven't even bothered to change out of my pajamas yet, curled up in my blankets with a textbook balanced on my knees. I'm studying for a test that's not until next Thursday, I'm looking up extra terms in the back of the book, I'm doing example problems, I'm re-reading chapters and highlighting and stuffing my brain full of numbers and definitions and equations, all so I don't think of you-know-who.

She avoided me for the rest of the week. She didn't so much as glance my way and I felt even more pathetic than I do now because I spent all of my time training my eyes on her. I just wanted a sign of ... something. I'm not sure what. Just a sign. Anything. Her eyes were far away and even though her body was right there, it was like she wasn't. I wasn't the only one who noticed, either – Beck was sending her looks of concern almost as much as me. She didn't speak unless spoken to. She didn't walk down the halls with her usual strut. She didn't look much at anyone, especially me.

But what I noticed most of all was that she hadn't kissed Beck. I mean, he kissed her, but it was just ... empty. It was just something he did out of instinct, like a reflex, but she never kissed him back and she never initiated any touch. It's like she was trying to avoid him as much as she avoided me. Even though we have several classes together and our lockers are only a hallway apart, it's like we have no contact whatsoever. Just yesterday I bumped into her in the bathroom and she didn't even mutter something snappy, like "watch where you're going" or "move it, Vega" which is pretty preferable to her silence, in all honesty. And when Beck brushed back her hair at lunch and mumbled his worry into her ear, she just shrugged.

She's so hard to read. She's a foreign language. She's an alien, and I'm trying to figure her out and you'd think that after two years with Beck, he would know how to fix her, how to read her and do all the right things, but from where I stand, it's almost as if we both have no idea who she is. She's one person with him and another with me and who knows who she is when she's with her parents and when she's alone. How many Jades are there?

Her name slams against my ribcage. I shake my head, having found myself staring blankly at my bedroom wall. I huff, burying my face back into my History book. I need to focus and study and remember all of these insignificant facts so I can pass my test next week, so I can not spend all of my free time dwelling on a certain West I know. I have to have some sort of independence, right? I have to have a spine, even if its weak, even if it barely holds me up. I have to at least be able to block her out for a time and do other, more productive things.

But she's growing on me like some sick fungus – no, a cancer, and she's eating away at me with razored teeth. She's the shadow behind every thought, the ghost of my dreams when I manage to sleep at all, the constant running in the background. I just want her with me all the time; I want her in this bed with me, with her arms around my waist and her chin on my shoulder. I want her to whisper something sweet and funny in my ear, I want to feel her laugh against my back. I want her to run her fingers through my hair and to turn me around and kiss my neck and then my lips, I want her sliding the books away and pushing me onto my back and straddling me and -

Good God.

I shut my History text and push it away, rubbing my temples. This is ridiculous. I hate myself for not being able to function without her ... it wasn't like this before, before Jade broke the rules, when she was still the predator and I was the (willing) prey. At the time, it was just fun, the kisses hurt, everything was harsh and hot and fast and left bruises that lingered for days but now ... in the car, that wasn't fucking. That wasn't the Jade that kissed me the night after we cleaned the auditorium. That was a new Jade, one that let me touch her and please her and kiss her and that meant something, that was someone my heart wanted to know.

It sounds stupid. It is stupid, really, but it's not like anyone can really reason with their heart. I start searching for my phone, intent on calling her. I don't know what I plan to say or what I'm going to do, but I've convinced myself that hearing her voice will be enough for me.

Before I even get a chance to push 'call' on her name in my contacts, there's a roll of knuckles on the door. I pause, lowering the phone and calling out.

"Yeah?"

"Jade's here." It's Trina on the other side, her not-interested tone clearly evident even from the other side of the door. I feel my stomach drop into my feet as I roll off of the bed, opening my door and fleeing down the hallway. Trina barely makes it out of the way, making a comment about my apparent rudeness, but she's long gone before she can finish. I'm flinging myself down the stairs, only to stop on the last step to see Jade leaning on the arm of my living room couch.

She's so gorgeous, I forget how to breathe for a minute. Her hair is all tumbled onto one shoulder and today she's wearing red extensions in the midst of her almost-black hair. I've never seen Jade in white before – the cotton v-neck makes her look so much lighter, much more ... open. Her hands are hovering over her stomach, picking at the cubicles on the opposite hand until her green eyes flick up and see me. She pauses, full lower lip becoming victim to her upper teeth and then she's pushing off the couch, jerking her head toward the door.

"Wanna go ... do something?"

I blink at her, my mouth falling open only to close because I don't know what to say. I think it's too much of a wild dream to think that Jade West could possibly be asking me out on a date – I mean, we've had sex. Aren't you supposed to go on dates before the clothes are discarded? It just seems so backwards, so ... not her, but then I remember that there are a lot of things about her that I really don't know, that there are more Jades that I haven't met.

"Uhm." I gesture stupidly before I hold up one finger. "Just a minute."

I spin back up the stairs, hurling down the hallway and into the bathroom. I all but knock Trina over, her shoulder slamming into the wall.

"Hey!" She scowls at me but I ignore her, scrambling for a hairbrush and yanking it through my hair. My heart is pumping so hard I can barely hear my own thoughts.

"What the hell, Tori? You, like, totally bruised my shoulder." Trina rubs her arm, pouting at me. I glare at her reflection, pushing her again to reach for the make-up. "I need this shoulder – both of them, actually. Not everyone has perfect shoulders, you know. I'm blessed, and I don't need you ruining them because you're in the middle of some psychotic episode."

"Trina. Kindly shut up." I push her again as I snag the mascara. If I can look half as nice as Jade does right now, then I'll be happy, but I don't need to listen to Trina whine about her 'perfection' in the meantime.

"What's with you?" She flings her hair back and purses her lips at me, hand on her hip. "Why's Jade here? I thought you guys, like, hated each other."

"We do. I mean, not really, I mean – it's complicated." Of course Trina wouldn't notice until now that Jade has come over several times, though it was for much more ... intimate reasons than this. I take a deep breath, studying my reflection as I put on lip gloss; it's boring compared to the goddess in my living room, but it'll have to do. I run my hands through my hair, fluffing it around my shoulders. I wonder what Jade sees when she looks at me. I always thought I was rather dull – brown hair, brown eyes, bronze skin ... at least Trina has hips, and Cat has that exotic hair, and ... I guess I just never understood why she'd pick me of all people.

I push out of the bathroom and into my room, rummaging through the nearest drawer. I almost kill myself trying to get my sweats off, tugging a pair of dark blue jeans up my legs. I tear off my baggy pajama shirt and thumb through my closet, suddenly hating everything in it. I grunt in exasperation before I find a long-sleeved black top and yank it on. I sprint back to the bathroom, bumping into Trina again. I check myself once more in the mirror, not completely satisfied, but too pumped up to care.

"Tell Mom I'm going out and I'll be back before midnight, okay? Thanks, Trin!" I hug her briefly, to which she gives a snort before I burst down the hallway and go down the stairs again. Jade's leaning on the arm of my couch once more, her thumb between her teeth. I hesitate on the stairs, feeling my chest hitch when she turns to look at me. Her eyes linger on my mouth, my eyes, before sliding down my chest. I start trembling just feeling her eyes on me and – God, I _am_ pathetic.

"You look ..." Jade pauses, pushing off the arm of the couch. I can see a struggle in her eyes, some kind of inner decision she's trying to make, and then her lips twitch upward. "Nice," she finishes.

I'm going to melt into a puddle on the floor. "Thanks." My voice is weak, barely a whisper. I clear my throat and try again. "Thanks. So do you." I swallow, descending the few final steps and gesturing toward the door. She nods slowly, moving toward it, grabbing the handle and pulling it open. She waits, watching me expectantly.

Is she acting like a ... gentleman? I muffle a smile behind my hand as I move through the door, feeling her close behind me. I eye her car in my driveway, remembering our last ... escapade that took place in the backseat and I feel my gut start to warm up. I round the car and climb into the passenger seat, watching as she dips beside me. The door closes and we're trapped in silence and for a minute neither of us move, Jade's fingers running along her keys. She glances at me and I don't even dare to breathe, half expecting her to change her mind and throw me out or something.

But then she starts the car, takes a deep breath, and backs away from my house. I release a breath I didn't know I was holding, relaxing against the seat. My poor heart is seriously going to fail me one of these days. I pull my seatbelt on and watch as my block passes by the window, the silence still stretching between us. I open my mouth to question where we're going when she suddenly speaks;

"You haven't been to that new Italian place, have you?"

I blink at her, surprised. Jade's taking me out to eat? If this isn't a date ... I swallow, rubbing my neck slowly as I shake my head. "No. Is it good?"

"Let's find out." She turns to look at me and when our eyes meet she grins and there go my lungs, not functioning.

I let out a long breath as I lean against the seat again. "You're going to kill me."

"What? I'm not even speeding."

"No." I laugh, shaking my head. "I mean, you just ... you make vital organs in me stop working properly."

Jade pauses. I look at her, eyes focused on the road in front of her as her hands smoothly guide us through the streets. Finally an eyebrow perks, the metal of her eyebrow ring glinting in the sun.

"Which ones?"

I smile, glancing down to see my finger twirling in my hair. Jesus. I clasp my hands in my lap and look out the window, trying to avoid her studying stare. "Like my brain, for one. My thoughts get all ... stupid."

Jade chuckles. "That it?"

"No. My lungs." I take a deep breath that happens to hitch when I notice the slope of her collarbone disappearing under the V cut of her t-shirt. Great. "They decide to, you know, quit on me."

I snap my eyes back to her lips to see that she's smirking, apparently pleased.

"Aren't you proud," I tease, my arms crossing.

"It's a powerful feeling knowing I make your body do all kinds of things." She glances at me again, green orbs tucked into the corner of her eyes before they slide back to the road. "Very god-esque." She shifts in her seat and I wonder what she's thinking about. "You're blushing."

"Hm?" I touch my cheek, blinking as I realize it's all but burning under my fingers. I turn away again, staring out the window. "Yeah, well, you mess with my blood pressure, too."

"You mean your heart?"

I feel the mentioned muscle slam hard against my ribs. I turn over my shoulder slowly, meeting her eyes. I can't tell what I'm seeing in them, the sharpness, the sudden seriousness hanging between us. I try to breathe, try to form something in English, but all I manage is a nod. I want to say yes, yes, Jade, you mess with my heart, you make it twist and turn and roll over itself, you make it tie itself into knots and ache and feel wonderful all at the same time. You make it jump and cartwheel and fold.

The car pulls to a stop. I hadn't realized we had already crossed town. Leaning to look out the windshield, I see a tiny, cream-colored building with a heavy auburn door. The sky is starting to lighten and the windows of the little restaurant are burning orange. I twist to look at Jade but she's already half out of the door. I unbuckle my seatbelt, fumbling with the door handle only for it to open for me, Jade sweeping her arm out.

"C'mon, Vega."

I study her outstretched hand, my mouth opening and closing.

"I see I affect your speech, too." She cocks another grin, finally reaching down to snag my wrist and pulling me out of the car. I stumble, my feet catching on the concrete so I have to grip her shoulder. She glances down. "And your feet."

We're very close now, mostly because I can't bring myself to move any farther away. I could kiss her, right here in this parking space, in front of the people passing by on the sidewalk, in front of the windows of this restaurant. I could and I want to, but she steps back, the moment passing. Breath rattles out of me and I lean against the door for a moment, steadying myself.

"Let's go." Her hand slips from my wrist to my fingers and they entwine, filling the spaces all too well. She pulls me toward the door, not releasing my hand even as we duck into the dim-lighted restaurant. It smells of pasta and sauce and faintly of wine. I blink, my eyes swimming around the interior – the walls are the color of sand, decked in various paintings. The carpet is a deep brown, intricate leaves made of wire winding their way along the border of the ceiling.

"Jade. I don't have any money." This place is far too fancy for me – all of my dates have taken me to the nearest pizza shop or fast food joint, and I've usually had to pay for my share.

Jade laughs again, tugging me toward a woman in a uniform behind a podium. "I'm not expecting you to have any money. I'm paying."

"But -"

"Tori." She glances at me, holding a finger to my lips for a moment. It's brief, but the skin-on-lip contact is enough to suck all of the oxygen out of the room. "There are things about me you don't know – one of which is that my family is filthy rich. Like, disgustingly loaded. So, trust me when I tell you that this won't thin out my wallet, okay?"

I honestly don't have the brain function to argue, so I just nod. She smiles, which is a phenomenon I'm still trying to comprehend, turning back to the beaming hostess behind the podium. "I made a reservation for two. Jade West."

I nudge her elbow. "You assumed I would say yes?"

Jade smirks, the tiniest of gestures, and yet I can barely have a coherent thought when I see it on her lips. "Maybe."

The woman welcomes us as she scoops up two menus and instructs us to follow her. Jade's hand is still in mine and I'm still struck in awe that this is happening, that Jade is taking me to a restaurant. To be honest, when she asked if I wanted to do something, I thought she meant having a nice fuck in the back of her car again or something. Not ... dinner. Especially not a dinner like this, in a restaurant that would probably suck up all of the allowance I made in a month. The Jade I knew, the Jade I thought was the only one that existed, was quick to snap and almost always angry at something. She was short, bordering on cruel the way she treated me or Cat or Andre or Robbie, even Beck.

I blink as his name surfaces. Beck ... what about him? What happens? I try to snuff him out of my thoughts as we reach our table, a booth off to one side of the restaurant. I slip into the seat, glancing out of the window beside us. Across the street is a bookstore, and further down the road is one of the taller towers of Hollywood Arts. I wonder where Beck is, what he's thinking, what happened ... what's happening right now. Jade has her menu propped up and the waiter asks me what I want to drink. I don't even remember what I told him because he's gone as soon as he appeared and I'm left staring blankly at the menu in my hands. The words swim together, the prices making my brain short circuit.

"Jade, this is so expens-"

"Tori, I already told you. I could spend twice as much as this in a day and my parents wouldn't even notice."

I frown at her, trying to find the cheapest meal. "I feel ... lame."

"You are lame, but that's beside the point. Trust me, Tori. It's fine."

"At least let me make it up to you." I pull my lip between my teeth when she looks at me, eyebrow cocked.

"How?"

I rub my suddenly burning cheeks again. "Uhm. I don't know."

She smirks at me again, glancing away as the waiter sets our drinks before us. Apparently 'water' was all I told him. I bring the glass to my lips to give me some time to come up with a meal, considering I couldn't really read any of the words because of the immense prices. Jade gives some kind of pasta name I've never heard of and when the man turns to me I gesture stupidly, scanning my eyes over the menu.

"I think it's safe to get her spaghetti," Jade says, laughing behind her fingers. The waiter eyes me as I die of embarrassment, mumbling the order back at Jade before he disappears.

"I shouldn't be allowed out in public." I laugh nervously. "Sorry about that. I've never been in a place like this."

"Not a problem." Her hands fold on the table and then she's leaning across it, her eyes narrowing on me. I watch her, her eyes scrutinizing. I want to ask about Beck. About us. About the other day in her car, about now, about everything, but I don't. I just let her study me with her far too intense gaze and let her figure out whatever is going on her mind. I have things to figure out myself, so I mimic her posture and stare right back at her.

She's been so many things to me in such little time. Enemy, acquaintance, fuck-buddy, and now ... what? Romantic interest? That sounds stupid, considering I've had sex with her already, but ... taking into account the leaps my heart is doing in my chest, it's hard to think of her as anything less.

I take a deep breath, trying to (as calmly as I can) come to terms with one undeniable fact; I like Jade West. I like like her. I like her a lot.

That truth doesn't bother me as much as I thought it was going to. I relax slightly, never breaking eye contact with her, even when I ask, "What are we doing?"

I don't know what I expect her to do – maybe get angry, maybe come to her senses and dump me out on the street and race to Beck's house, maybe drag me into the bathroom and fuck me senseless. I really don't know. She's completely unpredictable to me.

But she only smiles. She shrugs her shoulders and falls back against the seat. "Figuring out what this is." She flattens her hands and gestures between us before folding them on the table again. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Is that what you want?" I throw the question back at her and get another raised eyebrow in response. "Everything changed so suddenly."

"That's probably my fault." Jade purses her lips and toys with her hair. "I have this whole facade built up, you know, that I'm, like, made of ice or something but ..." she trails off, her shoulders lifting and falling again. "I'm not."

And she isn't. She's flesh and bone and blood and muscle and heart, just like me. She makes mistakes and hides things and opens up and shuts down and tells lies and takes risks like every other human. And we're not all that different, you know? We really aren't. We're both girls with hearts that don't know how to speak in a language that's recognizable to our brains. We're both lost and fragile and right here, this, this is thin ice we're treading on. I don't know where to step and she doesn't know how to lead me. Maybe it's the other way around.

We talk about innocent things then for a while, about grades and our crazy teachers and trying to find jobs before our food arrives. It was probably the most delicious spaghetti I've ever had in my entire life, and for about ten minutes I simply gush about the sauce and the noodles and I'm so animated I flag the waiter down and tell him to send my compliments to the chef. It's something my mom has always done – if you really like the food, you should let the cook know, right? Mom always said little things like that can really turn days around.

"You're a lot ... nicer than I thought." Jade dabs her napkin on the corner of her mouth as soon as the waiter walks away. She's smiling at me, her hand propped up on her elbow.

I make a face at her, finding that the earlier tension that had paralyzed my body has finally relaxed. "What did you expect? That I was some witch?"

Jade shrugs, twirling her fork around her food. "I don't know. When you first got here, I just – you're really pretty, and talented, and I couldn't tell if your kindness was an illusion or not. I'm a pessimist, so of course I assumed the worst out of you." She shrugs again, bringing her pasta to her lips and of course Jade can make eating noodles some kind of sexual thing. She licks some sauce from her lips before dropping her fork to her plate. "I'm terrible, really."

I shake my head, still trying to wrap my mind around the subtle compliments Jade had injected into her words. I knew those didn't come lightly, so I tucked them away and into my heart for later. "No, you're not. To be honest, I saw your eyebrow piercing and your extensions and assumed you were some druggie in a gang, if it makes you feel any better."

"We both judged the books by their covers."

"And the first pages."

Jade smiles as the check is put on the table. I blink, suddenly remembering where I am and what I just consumed and I blush again, burying my face in my hands. "Jade, I can't even imagine what kind of price is on that receipt -"

I hear Jade snort on the other side of the table. "This is nothing, Tori. My mom spends twice this much on a daily basis. At the spa."

"What do your parents _do_?" I lower my hands, wincing as I watch Jade slide a few bills into the holder, setting it on the corner of the table.

"My mom doesn't do anything – when her parents died, she inherited their whole estate, which was worth a shitload. My dad is a brain surgeon." She shrugs, apparently bored with this information. "I don't see either of them much. A whole section of the house is practically mine. They never go in there."

"Wow." I touch my cheeks again, feeling them burn. "That makes my life sound terribly boring."

Jade shrugs. "It's lonely."

The waiter sweeps by and takes the bill, thanking us for coming. As he walks away I study Jade's eyes, downcast into her lap, and ... it's almost like I can see it. The loneliness there. But hasn't she had Beck for two years? Wouldn't that help her with things? I chew my lip as she starts to stand and I reach into my pants pocket, finding a few dollar bills. I start to fold them on the table before Jade's hand pushes mine away. I glance up, frowning.

"I can do the tip, it's not a big deal."

"We're not leaving that creep a tip." She scowls, eyes flicking over my shoulder where the waiter disappeared. "He stared at your chest the whole time. He's lucky I don't go over there and smash a glass over his head." Jade shakes her head sharply and I feel her hand twist into mine. I try to say something as she drags me out of the restaurant, but I'm too blinded but what she said. She was ... she was being protective, even _possessive_, and ... I can't say I didn't like it. My heart swells, my cheeks practically bursting into flames as we make our way back to the car. The sky is dark now, the sun long since dipped in the west. It's colder, but Jade's hand is warm in mine, and even as our fingers slip apart so we can get into the car, I can still feel the warmth between my fingers.

"Thank you." I say it as soon as she gets in the car, but she doesn't reply until we've pulled away from the restaurant.

"I'm glad you liked it." Her hand falls across the arm rest and her fingertips are on my thigh. I hitch a startled breath, studying the innocent fingers for a moment before I reach down, scooping her hand into my own. I run my thumb along the back of her hand, smiling faintly.

"I loved it."

"You did say you were going to make it up to me." She smirks, her fingers flexing in my hold. "So, you pick, Vega. Where to?"

I blink, turning my eyes to her and almost panicking. Where could I take her that would be half as impressive as an expensive Italian restaurant? And then it hits me, slams into my frontal lobe and I swing my free arm out. "Turn here."

She obeys, eying me as we start back toward my house. She looks confused as I tell her to park in front of my house, but before she can ask I lean across the seat and press a finger to her lips. And I see her freeze up and I wonder if her organs are as effected by my presence as I am by hers. I feel her breath wash against my finger. "West, have more faith in me, all right? I'm not so boring that I would bring you to my house." I give her a smile before crawling out of the car. I note that it takes her a moment to gather herself before she joins me. I wait for her to round to my side, eyes still skeptical as I reach for her hand. I pull her close, closer than necessary, and even though my breathing is frantic and my heart is going much to fast, I manage to keep my voice steady as I whisper in her ear.

"There are things about me that you don't know," I say, mimicking her earlier words. "One of which is that I'm not entirely opposed to breaking and entering if the circumstances are too good to pass up. So trust me when I tell you that we're sneaking into my neighbors' backyard."

There's a moment of silence and a brief shard of clarity flickers past my brain, trying to tell me that Jade is going to back out, but then her hand is on my hip and I feel her chuckle breathlessly into my hair.

"Okay."

* * *

**A/N:** _Hey, all! Sorry this was a bit of a later update - I went to visit some family out of state and they're, like, cavemen and don't believe in the Internet. While I was away, though, I wrote this and started on the next chapter. _

_Hope you enjoyed it! If you did, you should totally review, as a late Christmas present to moi. _


	5. Chapter 5

When Trina and I were younger (before her revelation that she was perfect and needed to become famous in order to be happy) we used to sneak into our neighbors' backyard all the time. They had kids back then, but by the time Trina and I were in middle school they had moved out. The parents were rarely, if ever, at home – more often than not they were vacationing in some exotic patch of islands I've never heard of, or taking another road trip in their RV. Anyway, it's almost spring break, and every year they leave early to catch a cruise. For Trina and I, this was prime time to lift the loose boards holding up their high fence and duck into their yard. For Jade and I, it's too perfect to pass up.

I pull her through my front yard, whispering her to duck past my kitchen window. I dodge through a few bushes, narrowly avoiding some thorns as we make our way to my neighbors' fence. It's tall – they liked their privacy – but the boards are faulty, and the bottom three in the farthest corner had long since been unscrewed by Trina and I from our adventures as kids. I smile, giving Jade's hand a squeeze as I bend to my knees, pulling the boards away. I have to crawl to get through, but as I emerge on the other side I see that the house is delightfully dark, and down a slight slope of hill is their inground pool.

I turn, poking my head out of the hole. It's dark, but I can see the outline of Jade's white t-shirt. I smile, motioning her inside. "C'mon, West." I stick my tongue out as I crawl back into my neighbors' yard, walking carefully to the pool. I hear her shift inside behind me, taking the opportunity to give her a bit of a show; I bend over probably a little too dramatically than is necessary as I grab the plastic cover and start peeling it off the surface of the water, humming innocently as I do so.

"Who would have thought Tori Vega was a criminal?"

I shoot her a glance over my shoulder, pleased to see that one hand is on her hip and her eyes are on my ... assets. I grin, pushing the cover away. The pool isn't very big, but it's pretty deep in one end. I make my way over the porch where the lights are, hitting the bottom one to illuminate the pool in a bright, greenish light. "A little B&E doesn't make me a criminal."

"What does it make you, then?"

"Risky." I move over to the side of the pool, peering down. The water is calm and flat and quiet. The city is too bright for us to see any stars, but I tilt my head up and look anyway. I can feel her eyes on me and I conveniently forget how to breathe, and then she's taking off her shoes and I'm following suit. We strip in silence, down to our underwear and bras. Mine are pink, hers are blue. I'm looking at her and she's looking at me and there's nothing really all that awkward about it; we've already seen all of each other. I've seen her naked, she's pretty much touched me everywhere, but even though we know each others bodies so well, I'm still in awe by the lines and curves that make up Jade. I tear off my shirt and step out of my pants and study the way her hips meet her sides and her sides meet her breasts and her breasts meet her shoulders and her neck and her lips. I swallow hard, taking slow steps toward the ladder on one end of the pool. Jade watches me and I wonder what she sees, if she's even half as amazed by me as I am by her.

I wonder if she thinks the same thing about herself. I wonder if she even understands the magnitude of the effect she has on me.

I lower slowly into the pool, one ladder step at a time. I hiss slightly as the cool water crawls up my leg and she chuckles, perching on the edge of the pool and dunking her legs up to her knees. Making a face at her, I drop the rest of the way into the pool, the water only reaching barely above my waist at this depth.

"All right, your turn."

Jade eyes me slowly before pulling her legs from the water. I pout, about to make a comment as she stands. "This is how real women get into a pool." She smiles at me, taking a step back before she launches forward, cannonballing into the water.

I squeal as she lands, the water splashing loudly and soaking me in a sudden cold spray. Flinging my hair from my eyes, I watch as she whips out of the water, damp hair swinging out from behind her as she takes a deep breath. She blinks at me, makeup running down the sides of her cheeks and even then, even like this, she's so startlingly gorgeous I can hardly stand it.

"You little -" I dive toward her, my hands grabbing her shoulders and pushing her under the water. She manages a short laugh before the water closes above us and then it's just bubbles and her warm skin flexing beneath me. Her hands snake around my waist, fingers digging into my sides. I kick toward the surface, breaking into a fit of giggles the instant air swirls into my lungs. "Jade, s-stop!" I can hear her laughing and the sound is so ... God, it's almost _holy_ the way it rings out of her, and then my back is against the end of the pool and my eyes are still full of water but I can make her out, the foggy edges of her face struggling to come into focus and then her wet lips are on mine.

It feels so natural I'm not even surprised by the sudden turn of events; actually, it's quite welcome, because now I have an excuse to run my hands up her slick torso and circle them tightly around her neck. I can feel her smiling behind our lips and I'm smiling too, too overjoyed to not. Her hands guide my hips toward hers and my fingers are winding their way into the wet strands of her hair. I pull back to breathe, meeting her eyes, noting the smile on her lips with a growing pound of my heart.

"Jade?"

She smirks at me, her forehead touching mine. A finger traces its way up my spine and I gasp before suddenly dunking out of her grasp.

"Race!" I kick off the edge of the pool and dive toward the other end. I hear her laugh behind me, trying to keep up. I swim beneath her, kicking toward the deep end of the pool. I hold myself at the bottom, blinking up at her through the green light. I watch her legs meet the other end and then she hovers there, her torso twisting as she searches for me. Bubbles trickle past my lips as I kick off, swimming toward surface. My fingers trail up her legs as my head breaks through, smiling up at her before squirting a bit of water into her face. "Beat you."

Jade smiles, wiping the water out of her eyes, black smearing along her fingers. It seems to add to her allure rather than taking away from it, her hands searching through the water until they find my wrists. She pulls me back toward the other side until our feet meet the floor of the pool.

"You break the law and you cheat at races. You're worse than I thought. I think you're a bad influence on me."

I roll my eyes at her, letting her push me into a corner of the pool. My arms drape around her shoulders and I meet her eyes again, smudged and wet with her makeup and all I can say is "Shut it, West," and I kiss her. I kiss her and she kisses me and her hands are on my hips, guiding them to hers. The water is warm and she's warm and the goosebumps rising on my arms and neck aren't from the slightly chilly air above the surface - it's from this electricity that's sparking along my spine, shocking me. She's just ... she lights me on fire, she burns me, and my heart is drumming hard and I wonder if hers is, too.

Her lips leave mine and press to my cheek, sliding up to my ear. I cling to her shoulders, finding my knees to be less than reliable at this point as her fingers tease the elastic of my panties beneath the water. A sharp bite to my ear shakes a gasp out of me, my head falling back. A groan I hadn't intended to make trembles from my throat as her hand disappears into my panties and she wastes no time, doesn't have the patience to tease me which I'm actually very happy for. Her fingers brush between my lips and stroke my clitoris, sending a series of loud moans coming out of me. "J, Jade-" My words break off into a near scream as a finger pushes its way inside of me, my body arching off the edge of the pool and pressing into hers. I can feel her smiling against my cheek, her lips shifting down to pluck at the skin over my neck. I gasp, the finger moving in and out at an unforgiving pace and I'm trying to say something, anything coherent, but she's not listening, just chuckling against my pounding pulse. It builds so fast I can't see for several moments, and she's whispering in my ear to come and I do - I just let it all go, my muscles clenching hard as I ride out the orgasm and sink my nails into the flesh of her shoulders. It's so fast, so hot that I would probably drown if Jade didn't keep a firm hold on me.

Her hand disappears, repositioning on my hip. "Tori?"

My legs are trembling. I swallow, turning my lips to find her ear. "Yeah?"

"Race."

Her legs suddenly brace on either side of me and then she kicks off, soaring toward the other end of the pool. I dunk slightly, clutching the edges of the pool at my side and glaring out at her. I take a deep breath before attempting to follow. "You are such a - such a -"

Jade smirks, hovering in the middle of the deep end. "What's that, Tori? What am I?"

"You're a -!"

She plunges downward then. I laugh - I'm actually having fun. With Jade West. Jade West knows how to have fun. I kick my legs and dive down after her, blinking through the chlorine. Her arms are above her head, keeping her from floating up and I swim toward her, hands finding her cheeks. She's blurry but I can see that she's smiling, her arms around my torso. We spin toward the surface and something about this moment is just so ... real. She kisses me under the water and I've never felt so alive before, have never felt so _here_. Our heads crack the surface but her lips haven't left mine, and we're bobbing in the deep end, her legs kicking next to mine, and I wonder if our hearts are speaking to each other because it feels like a lot is being said without words.

I pull away first, the water at my chin. "Brat. That's what you are."

Jade smiles, reaching up to tap her finger against my nose. "You know you love me."

I start to laugh, leaning forward to kiss her again until I notice that she's suddenly frozen, her face going blank. Her hands tighten on my waist and then she's pushing me away. I flail my arms, keeping myself up. "Jade?" But she's not listening, not even looking at me as she tears for the side of the pool, yanking herself over the ledge. I panic, kicking hard toward her. "Jade, what's wrong?"

I know what's wrong, but I don't want to think it. I don't want to know it's true. She's throwing her shirt over her head, the fabric soaking wet and sticking to her skin. I clamber out of the pool, grabbing her elbow. She rips it so hard and fast out of my grip it's like I burned her and then she's struggling with her pants, grunting as the denim sticks to her legs.

"Jade. What the fuck." I grab her elbow again and refuse to let go, forcing her to spin and face me. Her eyes, black ringed and tinged with pink glare hard at me, a million unspoken accusations in her eyes.

"I love Beck, God damnit." She pulls away from me again and pulls her hair from the collar of her shirt. "I love Beck."

I stare blankly at her as she yanks her jeans up to her hips. "Who are you trying to convince here?"

"Shut up, Tori. This isn't - we're not - fuck." She grunts, turning toward the slope that leads up to the fence. I move in front of her, shoving her backward.

"No. You're not running away again. You're going to talk to me like I'm a person, Jade. We're not just fuck buddies anymore, okay?"

"No!" Jade shakes her head, her hands scrambling to get into her pockets. She pulls out her phone, blinking at the illuminated screen. "No, Tori, I have a boyfriend. I've had a boyfriend for _two years_ and he loves me and I love him and you're not going to ruin that."

"_Me_? _I'm_ not going to ruin it? Jade -" I take her shoulders firmly and wait for her to meet my eyes. "_You _came to _me_. You _kept _coming to me. I didn't start this. You did. And I'm not going to let it end with you trying to convince yourself you still love Beck."

She rips her eyes from mine and doesn't say anything, her chest heaving. I stare at her, my heart pounding, my legs trembling, standing there soaking wet in my bra and underwear trying to coax a girl into not leaving me. I don't want her to run away again, I don't to keep pretending that what's going on between us is just predator versus prey. I'm more to her now and she's much more to me. I've seen the Jade she wants to be, the one that picks me up and takes me to an expensive restaurant, the one that holds my hand and compliments me and kisses me in my neighbors' pool and tells me that she isn't an ice sculpture.

"I'm afraid." It's all she says, her eyes tilted above me. I place my hands gently on her cheeks and bring her face back down until they meet mine and I come forward, my body meeting hers with a flicker of warmth.

"Of what?"

I never thought Jade was capable of emotion up until recently, and even now I can't seem to wrap my mind around the fact that she looks like she's about to cry. She blinks hard, turning her face to mumble against the palm of my hand.

"You."

"Jade ..." I don't know what to say - how could she possibly be afraid of me? Wouldn't it be the other way around? I shake my head and pull her forward, my lips pressing against hers. She's tense for only a moment and then she's kissing me back, her hands in my lower back and I don't care about Beck, I don't care about two years with her boyfriend, I don't care about anything except the fact that Jade West is kissing me and I know the fight's not over, but she's finally giving me a chance to help her.

I pull back and whisper for her to wait just a minute as I slip away to my clothes, pulling the garments over my damp body. Taking her hand, we duck out of my neighbors' yard and into the side door of my house. It's dark and quiet and I realize that it's nearly eleven at night. I know Trina's not awake because she says that nine hours a night will make her more beautiful, apparently, and I don't hear anything from the hall off of the kitchen where my parents sleep. We tiptoe up the stairs anyway and I lock ourselves into my room, turning to watch as Jade sets on the edge of my bed. I tear my shirt off again, and then my bra - I don't even care anymore. She's seen all of me, anyway. She follows suit, and soon we're naked in my room and we're putting on pajamas from my drawer.

We don't speak again until we're under the covers in my bed and this is the first time we've been in my room fully clothed with her not on top of me. My arm is draped over her stomach, her lips on my forehead, and I breathe against her collarbone.

"I'm not going to make you do anything," I tell her, feeling her chest rise and fall slowly beneath me. "But, just so it's clear, I want you to be happy, with whoever you choose."

She doesn't say anything. She knows where I stand without me having to tell her; I want her. I want all of her.

I close my eyes and listen to her heart in my ear.

I know that, in the morning, things will change. Once more the rules are going to shift and I don't know what I'm going to do then but Jade's kissing my forehead and wrapping her arms around me and, for right now, that's enough.

* * *

**A/N: **_You know what you should do? Review. Because, if you guys didn't know, reviews give me life. I'm a strange kind of creature that creates fanfiction and feeds off of criticism and such._

_Also, happy birthday. It's not my birthday, but it's somebodies, and if it's yours, great! Imagine that I made all of this JUST for you. If it's not your birthday, you should leave a review, because that's a gift for me. It's my unbirthday. I celebrate it._


	6. Chapter 6

I wake up to the sun on my back.

It's a warm, distinct feeling that I remember experiencing much more often as a kid. I sigh, relishing in the way the warmth gives me an almost soft kind of burn as it settles through my shirt. For a few minutes I hang there, between sleep and consciousness, breathing against my pillow. It's nice and gentle here. My thoughts are still fuzzy from whatever dream I was having and it's these moments where I can really pretend that nothing ever goes wrong, that everything is okay. I give that morning-stretch sigh of pleasure as my legs extend, my arms flexing out from under my chest to spread across the bed and -

There's no one next to me.

It's instant, the way I slam into consciousness. A gasp rips out of me, my body jolting and I'm on my hands and knees, eyes wide open. The sun hitting my sheets makes my pupils scream as they constrict, but it's little compared to the echoing thud of my heart as it pings against my ribs because the sheets next to me are wrinkled and empty. I don't feel like breathing and my head starts to spin as I simply stare at the space she had occupied and, God, I can still smell her.

There are a thousand things I could do. I could reach for my phone right now and call her. I could jump into some clothes and go find her. I could curl up and cry.

The last option probably isn't the best one, but it's the only one my body reacts to. My arms give up, my face landing in the pillow she used. I don't want to breathe here, but it's no use; lavender swims up my nose, fills my lungs, slips into my bloodstream and exits through my heart. The pillow is still warm, like she was here just moments before I woke up. Maybe if I run, maybe if I bolt down the stairs she'll just be about to walk out of the living room ... and then what? What do I do? Stand there and tell her not to go? Watch the wheels roll in her eyes as she rejects me? This isn't a TV show; things aren't scripted, not everything works out in the end for the sake of the audience ... real life doesn't work that way. No, in real life, people get hurt and things go wrong and people that should stay leave all the time. I can feel my eyes starting to burn and even though I tell myself over and over that this is stupid, that I'm acting like an idiot, that I should have never let my heart slip past my ribcage and search for hers in the first place, it still hurts. Everything hurts. I squeeze my eyes shut and press my face into the pillow, breathing her in because it's all I can do here and my eyes are burning, and trying to coax them back doesn't do anything. I'm in too deep now. She changed the rules and neither of us knew how to play anymore, and it's all fun and games until someone's heart shatters into little pieces -

"Hey, are you awake yet?"

I swear I nearly have a stroke when I lift my head and see her standing there. She's leaning on the door frame, one hand on her hip, the other threaded into her hair and holding it back and she's still in my pajamas, the pink sweats and white t-shirt wrinkled from sleep. And, God, she's smiling at me, she's cocked on her hip and she's _smiling _at me. At least, she is until her eyes shift to examine the fresh tears spilling over the brim of my eyes and then she suddenly straightens.

"Woah, what's wr-"

"Jade." It's all I can say because I thought she had run away again, I thought she had left me here to fend for myself and I always thought I was an independent, strong kind of person and I guess everyone does until they suddenly meet someone that makes them feel safe. I thought all of my walls had fallen down, I thought she was gone, and even though she's standing right in front of me my heart is still pulsing with pain, like I'm dreaming, like she isn't real. "I thought you had, had, I thought -"

"Jesus, Vega." She moves, quickly crossing the room to sit on the edge of the bed and I throw my arms around her if just to reassure my mind that she's real. She's warm and solid under my hands and the smell is even more present with my nose buried in her hair. Her hand is running along the length of my spine, her voice gentle and soft in my ear. And maybe I'm overreacting and maybe this is all totally ridiculous but ... I don't ever want her to leave, as corny and stupid as it sounds.

"I woke up and you weren't, I thought you had walked out and -"

"Sh, Tori. I just went to the bathroom and rinsed out my mouth. I literally woke up, like, five minutes ago."

I'm still clutching her like she'll disappear if I don't. I pull back just far enough to find her lips with mine. I feel her grunt beneath me with surprise and I don't even care, I crawl over her and force her on her back and kiss her and I'm still crying, like my body still thinks she's gone, or maybe I'm just so happy to see that she's actually here. Her hands are in my hair and mine are hooked around her neck and I could kiss her senseless, honestly.

She pulls back with a loud gasp and presses a finger to my lips before I can dive in for more, which is probably a good thing, because the only functioning part of my brain is the section that knows how to kiss and I'm so washed with relief I think I could kiss her for about another year. She sits up, pushing me back but still holding on.

"Okay, I'm here, all right? I'm right here. And I'd love to continue this, but your breath smells like something crawled in your mouth and died."

I'm still not used to funny Jade, so the joke throws me off guard and my laugh sounds like a strangled sob. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to freak out ... or suffocate you with my breath."

I'm also not used to Jade smiling, and my heart flutters when she does. "Not a problem. Go brush your teeth. But you better hurry ..." Her hand is on my thigh suddenly, and I'm on fire, and her fingers are walking up my leg. Her eyes go from alert to hooded so fast I barely notice and then she's leaning toward me and I can see the tip of her tongue between her parted lips. "Before I succumb to fatigue."

Her eyes flash up to hit mine and that's all the push I need to hurl myself out of bed and into the hallway. I fly into the bathroom and scramble for my toothbrush. I brush so hard it's a wonder my gums don't bleed, and then I'm gargling mouthwash like it's the fountain of youth. Before I fling back into the room, I stare into the mirror for just a second - I'm no beauty queen in the morning, and maybe I don't know what she sees when she looks at me but I don't even care, because she's waiting in my bed.

I'm panting when I push back into the room and Jade is topless. And she's not wearing a bra.

It's like Christmas. It's better than Christmas.

My shirt is off before I even reach the bed. I can't even tell who wants this more, because we're both trying to tackle each other, and our lips are hungrily searching for the others. She bites my lower lip and I moan into her mouth and she wins the struggle and ends up on top of me. Which, you know, I'm not complaining, because she picks up this nice little grinding motion like she wants to bury her hips in mine. Her hands are skimming over my breasts and mine are fluttering over hers and she breaks the kiss to lick my neck. My pulse races under her lips and it's like my heart is trying so hard to mold with hers, through the bone and the skin that's separating us and I used to joke with Andre and Cat and Robbie that Jade's heart is black and made of lead but that couldn't be any less true because she's right here, kissing me, and I don't need to hear her pulse to know it's racing just as quickly as mine is. Jade didn't leave and everything would have been easier for her if she had, and if that isn't evidence of a heart, I don't know what is.

I pull the string holding her sweats together. She pulls back, the heat of her mouth escaping me so briefly I barely have time to blink. The sweats are gone and her mouth is on mine again, her fingers urging my hips up so my pants can join hers. Her legs are smooth as they fold against my own and I moan again, pulling her closer. Like two trees that grew too close together, she fills the curves of my body with hers and I've never felt so wound up, so snug, so ... _here_. My panties are gone, hers leave her with a high pitched, girlish giggle, and I want to see her face again when she's at the height of pleasure, I want to ... I want to make love to her, not in a car and not up against a wall or in a pool, I want to really make love to her in my sheets so she's there even when her body's not. I push up, hooking my hand around the back of her neck as I flip her over. The air rushes out of her as her back meets the mattress and I don't give her the time to breathe, kissing her again, lips soft and warm. The fact that she's delightfully trembling beneath me gives me the confidence to break our lips apart and start my descent. We don't speak, but I can tell by the brief moments our eyes meet that she knows what I'm about to do, that I've never done it before, that my shaking hands are partly because she's naked in front of me and partly because I'm so nervous I suddenly feel like running away.

And then Jade's fingers are in my hair and it's soothing and comforting and I kiss her jawline before my breath fans out across her sternum. She hitches against me as my hands smooth down her breasts, briefly teasing her nipples. Her body rolls upward and I follow the curves of her sides, kissing the flesh of her stomach, her bellybutton. Her thighs are shaking almost as badly as my hands. I hesitate over the patch of dark hair, flicking my eyes up at her again. She's breathing hard, her hands cupping her breasts and it's like she's fighting to keep herself from bucking right into me, and as the silence stretches her head falls back and she moans impatiently, "_Tori_."

Well, if that isn't motivation.

I taste her, not knowing what to expect, but really it doesn't even register because the sounds Jade is making completely overwhelms everything else. I can smell her and feel her and I brace my hands on her thighs to hold her down. I don't know what time it is, I don't know who else is in the house, but somewhere in the back of my mind I hope no one is in the hallway because Jade isn't exactly being quiet, not that she can help it. A stream of constant moans floods out of her, mixed in with my name, mixed in with God's, and Jesus', and it's mind-blowing, really, and when she comes the muscles around her thighs tighten but I refuse to let them close and she has to bite back a scream. I pant, pushing myself up on my hands and watching her, legs giving spasms, chest heaving.

I guess it's never not going to surprise me that I can do this to her, that I can reduce strong, bitchy, snappy Jade to ... this. This shuddering mass of limbs. I kiss her stomach again, skim over her breasts until I find her mouth. She kisses me weakly, hands on my cheeks, fingertips brushing under my eye.

"Tori?" Her brow crumbles and she sits up, hands still holding my face, hers creased with concern. "Are you okay?"

My eyes are burning again. I shake my head, though I don't really know if this is the answer to her question or something else. I kiss her, again and again, because I don't want this moment to slip by. I don't want to have to face anything outside of my bedroom door ever again, not without her. And that's just the thing - I don't know what this is. I don't know what this means. Jade's anything but consistent - one moment she's taking me out to dinner, the next she's telling me she loves Beck, and then she's sleeping in my bed.

"I want to know that you're not just gonna - gonna -" My voice is strangled and tense and she's looking at me with such a deep level of concern it tugs my heart into a million directions all at once. "I don't want to be a secret anymore, Jade, and you still have Beck and -"

"Hey." She sits up further, bringing me to her chest. I melt against her, my face in her neck, breathing her in. And she's warm and naked in my bed and for a few, silent seconds I just appreciate that for what it is. "I'm not going anywhere, okay?" She strokes my hair, her voice soft in my ear. She sighs, and I don't have to see her eyes to know they're lowered and her lip is between her teeth before she speaks again. "Before this all started, I was ... Beck and I ..." She goes silent for awhile and there's just the quiet breathing rustling past my hair. I kiss her neck, my arms wrapped tightly around her torso. "I love him. I mean, I did. I mean - it's complicated. We just, we've been together for so long, I think we convinced ourselves that we were the best we could do."

I pull back then, meeting her eyes. She avoids mine, hands smoothing along her legs.

"Beck's not bad, he's just ... all I've known, I guess, and I wasn't supposed to, you know -" She waves vaguely to me and I swallow hard. "When you first got here, I felt all threatened, and at first I thought it was because you were pretty, and then I thought it was your talent, and then I thought you were going to try and steal Beck but ... it wasn't any of those things." She meets my eyes carefully, chewing her lip for a moment before she sighs. "I felt threatened because ... just, like, watching you from a distance, and this sounds creepy, but you were so ... so good to be around, and you're the first person I ever felt bad for making fun of or trying to hurt you and I guess I kind of realized maybe ... maybe Beck isn't ..." She looks at her hands, picking at her nails. "...Maybe he isn't the best I can do."

When she meets my eyes again all thought is pretty much wiped out of me. I just stare at her, this beautiful girl laying naked in my bed and suddenly I know, without a doubt, that this is the Jade she's supposed to be. Not the mean one in the hallway, not Beck's Jade, not the girl that fucks and then walks out. It's this one, a combination of going out to eat and swimming in pools and sleeping in my bed and making love - it's this Jade that I've been looking for and I didn't even know I was searching but I've found her. I've finally found her.

And I have never been more certain about anything in my life more than I am right now. She looks into my eyes and I look into hers and I know that I'm going to fall in love with Jade West.

I kiss her. She rolls me over, and her mouth and hands are exploring all over me and it's not like it was in the beginning, possessive and cruel, and it's not like it was last week, learning and careful - she knows me now, and she knows this body is hers. Her touch is protective, skilled, with the perfect combination of pain and pleasure resting in those fingertips. She rubs her thumb against my clitoris and her other hand is teasing my nipple and I shudder against her, my lips on her collarbone. I whisper her name against her skin and her mouth is on my forehead, kissing me, my cheeks, my lips, and her finger slips inside of me. And we've done this a hundred times it feels like, just like this, with her working her finger inside of me and her lips lost in my hair but this is a new Jade, the Jade I didn't know existed but the one I know has been waiting for me to find. I don't have to wonder what she's thinking because the way her wordless pants break against my ear is more than enough conversation. This is talking. This is explaining. This is discovery.

I come hard, biting her skin to muffle the sound. She smooths my hair from my face, kisses my lips, and pulls the sheets over us.

We're both trembling. My cheek is on her shoulder, her hand is on her back, and we both know what has to be done and what happens from here but for now, it's just this. No longer predator, no longer prey. The lion fell in love with the lamb.

* * *

**A/N:** _Thus concludes "Predator"._

_I really hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. I'm going to miss this story. And I could honestly drag this out, but I think this ending ... well, I'm rather proud of it if I'm going to be frank with you. I hope it lives up to your expectations. _

_Review! It would mean so much to me._


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